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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Hong Kong is truly a great place for the DIY tourist. Meaning, you can just map out your own itinerary and not join any tours at all! They simply make it so convenient for tourists to get around. :)

When you touch down at the airport and after you get through immigration and customs, you can actually find a lot of maps and guidebooks, all for free.

We didn't really have any specific plan when we got there. We just said that we'll visit Ocean Park (definitely at the top of our list, especially since there was no Disneyland yet at that time) and whatever we'll see on the maps.

Those free maps and guides were very good! There are suggestions for the places that one might want to visit. They actually gave detailed instructions on how to go there. And, for a free map and guide, the details are just right for a tourist. I mean, touristy spots like Ocean Park and Victoria Peak, among others are there, even places we don't usually go to like Repulse Bay, the Botanical Gardens etc, the hotels, the convention centers and the shopping districts. Although I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't be surprised if they actually put down the non-tourist spots like drug rehab centers.

We ended up buying an MTR ride-all-you-can-for-3-days card and went around Hong Kong with it. We spent the afternoon of Sunday in Victoria Peak, the whole of Monday in Ocean Park, and squeezed in a temple (Wong Tai Sin, I believe), the Star Ferry and the Walk of the Stars on Tuesday morning.

Yes, it was just a 3 day 2 night trip. So short, but so memorable. I wish, though that we weren't so rushed and we could have enjoyed at least a week with just each other before having to come back. Sigh...